TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A person has been arrested for animal cruelty after authorities say he deserted his canine in floodwaters close to a freeway as residents evacuated Florida’s Gulf Coast final week shortly earlier than Hurricane Milton made landfall.
The 23-year-old man from Ruskin, Florida, was arrested Monday on a cost of felony aggravated animal cruelty.
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AP correspondent Julie Walker reviews a person was arrested for leaving his canine chained up in floodwaters throughout Florida’s final hurricane.
A case docket hadn’t but been posted on-line so it was unknown if he had an legal professional.
The canine, nicknamed Trooper by the Florida Freeway Patrol, was discovered alive final Wednesday in floodwaters as much as his chest alongside Interstate 75 within the Tampa space as residents evacuated Florida’s Gulf Coast hours earlier than the Class 3 hurricane made landfall.
Troopers introduced him to a vet, the place he was examined for accidents and obtained a clear invoice of well being.
“We take this crime very severely and this defendant will face the implications of his actions,” stated State Legal professional Suzy Lopez, whose jurisdiction covers the Tampa space.
A trooper who positioned the canine primarily based on an outline from a witness driving by described him as “in extreme misery and trembling,” in keeping with a redacted felony report.
“Site visitors was heavy as many individuals had been evacuating,” the trooper wrote within the arrest report. “As a result of circumstances, and the acute hazard and threat of loss of life brought on by the defendant to the canine, the defendant’s actions brought on extreme pointless infliction of ache and struggling to the canine.”
Investigators had been in a position to monitor down the proprietor after he went to a Tampa space animal shelter on the lookout for his canine, who had been moved to a shelter in Tallahassee after which positioned with a foster household. The proprietor agreed to surrender the canine to the foster household offered “they’d take excellent care and love the canine,” the arrest report stated.
Throughout an interview with the trooper, the proprietor waived his proper to stay silent and gave an announcement which was redacted within the report.
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An earlier model of this report incorrectly stated the person was arrested Tuesday as a substitute of Monday.